Comments on: Who are the best young hitters in Twins history?http://aarongleeman.com/2013/06/19/who-are-the-best-young-hitters-in-twins-history/
Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron GleemanSat, 01 Aug 2015 01:16:00 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3By: TMWhttp://aarongleeman.com/2013/06/19/who-are-the-best-young-hitters-in-twins-history/comment-page-1/#comment-36935
Fri, 21 Jun 2013 16:52:00 +0000http://aarongleeman.com/?p=100675#comment-36935“I don’t mean to say that he’s been awful, will never be any good, or anything like that. But it seems strange that nobody seems to be talking about this stuff.”

Probably because he’s only 22 and no one expected this much production from him at the plate at this level. Your post has an assumption that pitchers will make adjustments to him, but that he won’t make adjustments to pitchers.

He’s striking out a lot because he’s young and he’s learning. Is he going to make adjustments? I hope so, but who knows? Neither me nor you. It’s not inevitable that this is going to catch up to him, especially because he’s developed a good track record at every level.

WAR numbers are lousy because his defense is wiping his offensive contribution out. That’s a pretty coachable problem to have.

The reality I’m excited about it is that he’s been able to hit the ball hard relatively consistently for a guy his age. That’s why his BABIP is high. Compared to what he’s done throughout the minors, it’s not particularly high though.

There are concerns and uncertainties with him just like most young players. Arcia, however, is a player with whom to have a little reasonable optimism. This guy can hit.

It looks to me like he’s doing OK at the plate, thanks to a fair amount of good luck on balls in play, but I think the walk and strikeout rates signal some significant flaws that MLB pitchers will learn to exploit if
he doesn’t make some fundamental changes. His poor defense wiping out what value he has brought to the offense may be a serious issue going forward, too.

I don’t mean to say that he’s been awful, will never be any good, or anything like that. But it seems strange that nobody seems to be talking about this stuff.